In more neoliberalised, Anglophone contexts like the UK, Australia and NZ there has been a profound reshaping of the political economy of childcare in response to growing parental demand and government subsidisation. The ‘scaling up’ of delivery, resulting in childcare chains, corporations and more recently the involvement of shareholder investment vehicles like pension funds, are changing how childcare is being viewed and delivered. Set within this context, this presentation will present some key findings of a three year study of the marketization of childcare in New Zealand.

Dr. Aisling Gallagher is a Senior Lecturer at the School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University, New Zealand. She has researched and written around issues of welfare restructuring and the marketization of childcare. Most of her work has focused on the changing nature of childcare and social reproduction more generally under neoliberalism, notably in the contexts of Ireland, the UK and New Zealand. In 2014 she was awarded funding from the Royal Society of New Zealand to study the marketisation of childcare in New Zealand since 2008. Further details available here

Dr Gallagher is a visiting scholar in ISS21 during September 2019.